The Mysore That Was… Part 27
I am inclined to write about two Mysuru women from ordinary backgrounds, who, in their own style, made their lives memorable in a small way, though their impact will run for many decades. While the life of one of them was strewn with a path of thorns all through, she fought against all odds and rose to the desired level, the other’s life was a comfortable one after her marriage, her act of sacrifice and commitment to a social cause at the fag end of her life became a startling example to many in this world where majority of people see life through a narrow prism of self and self alone. Now read on:
Smt. M.N. Sarojamma was born on 17.10.1926 to Narasimha Iyengar and Vedavalli. Father died early and the family came under the care of grand mother and maternal uncle. Even when she was studying in high school she was married off to one M.K. Rangarajan, who worked in the ITL (Industrial Testing Lab, Bengaluru) and the duo got two pretty daughters in quick succession. Tragedy befell on the family like a thunderbolt when Rangarajan died at an early age leaving Sarojamma a widow at 23 years and two young daughters. All three of them came under the loving care of Sarojamma’s brother.
Sarojamma’s married life lasted only five years, but by then she had completed her middle school exams and her grandma insisted she should join high school and continue studies. After completing her SSLC after a short vocational course, she got her first job in a primary school. This was the period she became active in the cultural fields of singing and drama. The stout hearted that she was, she took all this in her stride, not losing faith in the Almighty, by exploring all avenues possible in expanding her professional and cultural activities. She did not rest at this and was determined to give her young daughters as good education as possible within her means.
In course of time, she made her foray into higher stages of education and qualified herself with M.A. B.Ed of Mysore and Sahitya Ratna from Allahabad Varsity. She studied hard and obtained ‘Sanskrit Kovida’ 1st Class degree from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay. She also served in the Adult Education Council for a while. An independent spirited lady from the beginning, she never sought free assistance from anybody and brought up her two daughters imbibing in them similar qualities of head and heart.
Sarojamma’s literary activities (her pen name was Rozi) includes fifteen dramas and a seven act-drama ‘Ramanuja’ which won a special award from the Central Hindi Institute, an offshoot of the HRD Ministry. She got a cash prize for this. The ‘Magnum Opus’ of her creative activity blossomed in the form of a translation into Kannada of the monumental work ‘Ramcharitha Manasa’ of Sant Tulasidas. This work took more than five years in preparation and she had to undergo tremendous physical and mental pressure in getting it printed and published.
At some stage she had to literally go from door-to-door with a bag containing those books hung on her slender shoulder. This has been the lot of many writers in Kannada those days and some of them ran out of their life in this process. Courage of conviction and fortitude were the hallmark of Sarojamma and she took upon all this drama on her slender shoulders.
Accolades came from many quarters for this work and former Chief Minister R. Gundurao honoured her at a function (see photo) and Dr. Rajkumar applauded her work with a cash prize saying, “I am offering a palmful (bogase in Kannada) of cash to an ocean (sagara) of literary gems.” The Karnataka Government wrote a nice letter !
Sarojamma’s life is a beacon light in the literary field and should inspire many aspiring writers for her quest for excellence in what she did in her lifetime. In her old age, she lived alternately with her two daughters Malini Srinivasan and Shalini Chari, both of whom have carved a niche for themselves in the cultural and social circles of Mysuru. Sarojamma had a peaceful end and died in her daughter Shalini’s house on 6.4.2014, at the ripe old age of 88 summers. A life lived with full of struggle and qualitative achievement in the field of literature. Hats off to that gentle soul.
A.R. Sundaramma, a homemaker, was born in 1923 in Mysuru to a lawyer-father K. Visweswariah and his wife. The family lived in K.M. Puram and had besides Sundaramma, two more daughters and two brothers. Her father gave his wards good primary education and as was the practice those days got his elder daughter married off to a boy in Bengaluru and as he could not find a suitable match to Sundaramma, he got her married off to a rich landlord who had lost his first wife. His name was A.K. Rangarao, who lived in Lakshmipuram with his parents. Rangarao had a younger brother who died early leaving the former the only heir to his ancestral property. The Rangaraos did not have any children and after the demise of her husband, Sundaramma became the sole inheritor of the property.
Sundaramma actively engaged herself in social and music activities in her own way and became a helping soul in her community encouraging poor boys for studying and setting them up in their own small ventures. She also encouraged young musicians.
Age caught her up in course of time and her younger brother Krishnamurthy, a retired engineer, started looking after her and her interests. In this connection, I should mention that she donated a large sum of money to her community organisation which was running a boys hostel. When she reached nearly ninety years of age, she took an important decision of her life and called her lawyer and made a registered Will thereby making a handsome gift of her huge ancestral house to her community Sangha and asking them to convert the property into a girls hostel, to be run by the said Sangha. What a fine gesture.
Within a few months thereafter, Sundaramma (90) passed away and only a few fortnights after this, the family (brother) and her lawyer called up the beneficiary Sangha and legally made over the gift deed to it at a small function in the premises of the same gifted house. At the time of her death, Sundaramma had a brother and children of her two sisters to whom normally she could have given the gift but as they were all well-settled in life, she thought otherwise and decided in her own way. This act speaks volumes.
In the present age when people, comfortably well-placed in life, leave their property to their own family members — all to me and my clan and none to others, here was a lady who thought otherwise and made a grand difference to the present generation. The beneficiary Sangha has already started a girls hostel in that property and fifteen girls have benefited staying there. The hostel is named after her.
Kudos to Sundaramma and may her tribe increase hundred fold and may her splendid act become a beacon light to many more people so that society grows equitably. What a brilliant idea of sharing one’s wealth.
e-mail: mlkswami@yahoo.in
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / Monday – March 23rd, 2015
